The provision of content distribution systems that provide in-flight entertainment to passengers have become increasingly important to airlines, as the choice of content available to passengers and the performance and reliability of such systems has a significant impact on the passenger's enjoyment of a flight and consequently has become an important factor for passengers in selecting an airline or flight.
Known aircraft content distribution systems comprise individual display units at each seat linked by wired network connections (for example via Ethernet connections) to a central server that stores all content available to passengers. An application running at the server provides menus of available content to each user, from which the user is able to select a piece of content to play. The selected content is then streamed in real time from the server to the user's display unit. Such known systems require powerful servers, and high bandwidth network connections that are able to distribute different content to every passenger on the aircraft simultaneously. The requirement for powerful servers and high bandwidth wired connections to each seat add significantly to the weight of the aircraft, which has significant cost and operational implications. Furthermore, as such systems form an integral part of the aircraft they must comply with high safety certification requirements.
Alternative known aircraft content distribution system stream content from the server to the display devices via wireless rather than wired network connections. However, wireless connections within aircraft can be unreliable due to the geometry of the aircraft, and signal reflection and cancellation effects within the confined space of the aircraft cabin. In order to address such issues, the power of the wireless transmissions may be increased, but it is difficult to scale such systems up for use in larger aircraft without power requirements becoming unfeasibly large. Furthermore, such known wireless systems are usually integrated with other aircraft systems, for example passenger service systems, and again must comply with high safety certification requirements
One reason for integrating known aircraft content distribution systems with other aircraft systems, for example passenger service systems, and also for using a central server to stream content in real time, is to ensure that the cabin staff can control the streaming of content to the passengers, and can halt or pause the playing of content for instance in an emergency or to enable delivery messages over an intercom system. Installation and maintenance of such systems can be complex and expensive.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide an improved, or at least alternative, content distribution system.